I was wondering the same question [not the part about AD buying Guard IFF washouts, the answer is NO]...I'm a buff reservist and that's the first time I've heard that story. I'm a young guy though so this may predate my membership. At any rate, the buff community does have a stigma of washouts abound but that's not true of the Reserves. Plenty of A-10 dudes in the unit, and plenty more who went direct to the buff off-the-street. There's so many Vipers and Hawgs to go around, not everyone gets curtain #1 in the century of the UAV, some of us needed a job yet skated through tac form (by pure work ethic if for no other incentive really) just as well as the viper selectee. I'd be very interested in hearing the whole story on that one c17.

That said, all else being said here is right, attitude is a big part of UPT. There were several dudes on my UPT class that washed out because they just didn't tolerate being treated like children in their late 20s. Most of the young ROTC and academy types didn't have much of a problem being treated poorly. So it was an age thing. Yeah one or two just didn't have the hands, but the majority of folks who didn't have problems flying in the civi world who did wash out, did so because they couldn't put up with the treatment at their age. It's a sucky experience really for the prior flyers (I hated UPT personally, the AF has a way of sucking the fun out of flying, but that's another story), but that year is a small price to pay for an otherwise excellent aviation opportunity, compared to a regional no less. So it's all about perspective.